Especially on very long passages or trips, such as long-distance flights, but also on cruises, for example, by ferries, a general object of the aircraft and ferry outfitters is to increase the comfort of seat occupants and, accordingly, of the passengers who are to be transported. Especially in first class and business class, the customers have corresponding ideas about what they want, which wishes are to be satisfied. A trend among passengers is to be able to use the travel time for meaningful rest or sleeping, in order, for example, to effectively counteract jet lag at the destination for long-distance flights or the like.
DE 100 91 484 A1 discloses a vehicle seat, especially an aircraft passenger seat, with a seat part and backrest held to be able to move relative to one another by at least one adjustment device. In the known solution, the respective adjustment device has several articulations which are connected to one another at least partially by a rod supporting framework as the seat structure, which bears the seat part and which executes traversing motion by an actuating means. The seat part can then be moved out of an initial position into other positions used for resting and sleeping and vice versa, depending on the number of attached articulations and rod parts of the rod supporting framework. The number of possibilities for movement and therefore the degrees of freedom of movement for the seat part are greatly increased compared to known solutions, so that positioning of the seat part and backrest is possible within very wide adjustment ranges. The known seat has pivoting leg and foot rests. The bottom of the leg area, especially the bottom of the thigh of the seat occupant, can be relieved, so that harmful pressure which reduces the cross section of the veins and thus the danger of thromboses are reduced. Based on the price structure of the pertinent seats and with respect to their space and weight requirement, they are used essentially only in first class and business class, and cannot be easily used for economy class. Furthermore, with the known seat design, likewise the veins are exposed to strain, especially for the case in which the seat is in the upright (take-off position) and the leg and foot rests, which relieve the cross sections of the veins are folded down such that the corresponding support and relief are then not available.